July, 2019

WATCH ABOVE: A young man claims that he was grossly violated in the Sears bathroom at the Fairview Pointe-Claire after a man allegedly took photos of him in a stall. Rachel Lau looks into the story.

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MONTREAL — When Matthew Tod wandered through the Fairview Pointe-Claire shopping mall on the way home from his grandmother’s house, he didn’t think making a quick stop at the Sears bathroom would become such a terrifying experience.

“[A man] came close to my bathroom stall and then started to look into my bathroom stall. So, at that moment I froze,” he said.

There were several protests over the summer, including one at Montreal city hall, and relations continued to deteriorate during committee hearings later in August.

Now, it seems the two parties are making some headway.

Watch: Firefighters’ union to pick up protest tab

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Moreau said he can “adjust” and possibly wait until collective agreements in each city expire to impose his reform, the 50-50 sharing of past, present and future deficits.

Montreal’s collective agreement expires in 2017.

Ranger told Global News he is not comfortable with the term “adjustment.” He would like to see major changes to the bill. But he noted that Tuesday morning’s meeting with Moreau was “constructive.”

“I can say it went better than expected,” said Ranger.

“We had absolutely no expectations coming into this meeting. We weren’t there to be polite, we were there to talk about a serious issue, so the discussions were very straightforward, and we’re not at a public commission, so I think that the discussions were honest.”

Unions are still planning to hold a big demonstration on September 20.

They intend however to respect Quebec’s Essential Services Act, which limits police and firefighters’ right to protest.

SASKATOON – Bed bugs. Just the thought of them makes your skin crawl and according to local pest control experts, they’re becoming more prevalent.

“Bed bugs are simply a hitchhiker and you’ll pick up bed bugs in many, many different places,” said Murray Davison, branch manager for Poulin’s Professional Pest Control Services.

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“They’re making a come-back because of international travel,you know lots of people traveling to different destinations around the world and they’re just bringing them back.”

Surviving up to a year without a blood meal, bed bugs can live in walls and transfer in between apartments.

“They’re quite happy to live in the top third of your bed, in your headboard, in your night stand that kinda stuff and as long as there’s a blood meal there every night, you know you’re sleeping in there and they’ll come and feed on you.” explained Davison.

Serina McKeen, a young mother of one, says she’s packing up after getting fed-up with a bug infestation in her apartment complex on Avenue O South.

“It’s not a safe place for my kid.”

She and her two-year-old son now share an air mattress at their new apartment after McKeen said she’s had to either toss or leave behind hundreds of dollars worth of her belongings.

“We were told not to bring our furniture because they don’t want the problem over at my new house and I’m having an inspection next Monday to see if I brought bugs,” said McKeen.

Struggling to pay the bills, McKeen says she has no idea when she’ll be able to replace her furniture including her son’s crib.

“It makes me feel like a crappy parent that I can’t afford to go get my son a brand new bed which he deserves and I’m suppose to be his provider and I can’t even afford it right now.”

Two floors up in the same apartment complex, James Smith says the infestation in his apartment is so bad a good night’s rest is hard to come by.

“She gets up in the middle of the night, my wife and check two or three times and surprisingly enough we find one or two a night,” said Smith

“I get up with her, she gets up, baby’s up, we’re checking all around and just not feeling comfortable going back to sleep.”

Tenants say they’ve filed complaints with the company but the building hasn’t been professionally treated since the spring.

In statement to Global News, Avenue Living said “125 Avenue O south has been treated several times by both third party pest control providers and staff over the last year. Most recently in late July, 2014…” The full statement is below.

“A lot of the times we go in to treat and it’s just not a very thorough job in term of prep work and a lot of times you’ll just get them back,” said Davison.

Avenue Living says it provides a notice to it’s tenants when pest control will be happening and details on how to prepare the unit then it’s up to the tenant to follow through to ensure the treatment is effective.

MINNEAPOLIS – A former Minnesota nurse who admitted going online and encouraging people to kill themselves was convicted Tuesday of assisting the suicide of an English man and attempting to assist in the suicide of a Canadian woman.

The convictions follow a legal battle that spanned more than four years and that led to the reversal of part of a Minnesota state law that outlaws the practice.

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Rice County District Judge Thomas Neuville ruled that the state proved that William Melchert-Dinkel, 52, assisted in the suicide of Mark Drybrough, 32, of Coventry, England.

He said the state failed to prove Melchert-Dinkel ‘s assistance was a direct cause of the suicide of Nadia Kajouji, 18, of Brampton, Ont., but found him guilty on a lesser charge of attempting to help her take her life.

READ MORE: Government to argue ‘absolute prohibition’ on assisted suicide in Canada

Melechert-Dinkel’s attorney, Terry Watkins, and the prosecutor, Rice County Attorney Paul Beaumaster, did not immediately return calls seeking comment on the verdict.

Neuville scheduled a sentencing hearing for Oct. 15. The same judge had also convicted Melchert-Dinkel in 2011 of encouraging the two suicides but put his 360-day jail sentence on hold pending appeals.

“The Defendant did not physically assist either Drybrough or Kajouji in taking their own life,” the judge wrote in a ruling dated Monday but not released until Tuesday. “However, there is significant evidence that the Defendant assisted Drybrough, and attempted to assist Kajouji, commit suicide by providing them with specific instructions and methodology for completing the suicide.”

Kajouji jumped into a frozen river in 2008. She was a student at Carleton University in Ottawa at the time. Drybrough hanged himself in 2005.

In his ruling, Neuville said Melchert-Dinkel provided both Drybrough and Kajouji with detailed information about how to hang themselves, and that Drybrough followed his instructions. However, he noted that while the defendant gave Kajouji detailed and specific instructions about hanging, she did not follow them and chose another method. So the judge said Melchert-Dinkel was guilty only of attempting to assist her suicide.

The Minnesota Supreme Court reversed Melchert-Dinkel ‘s original conviction in March, saying part of a state law that made it illegal to “advise” or “encourage” suicides was an unconstitutionally broad restriction on free speech. However, the justices upheld a part of the law that makes it a crime to “assist” in someone’s suicide. The ruling said speech alone can be used to assist or enable a suicide if it is narrowly targeted to one person and provides that person with what is needed to carry out the act.

The Supreme Court sent the case back to the lower court for further proceedings because the judge did not rule at the time on whether Melchert-Dinkel actually assisted in the two suicides.

Evidence in the case showed Melchert-Dinkel was obsessed with suicide and sought out depressed people online. He posed as a suicidal female nurse, feigning compassion and offering step-by-step instructions on how they could kill themselves. He acknowledged participating in online chats about suicide with up to 20 people and entering into fake suicide pacts with about 10, five of whom he believed killed themselves.

At a hearing last month, Assistant Rice County Attorney Terence Swihart said Melchert-Dinkel provided Kajouji and Drybrough with specific information on methods for killing themselves, going beyond merely expressing opinions.

But defence attorney Watkins said there was no evidence to prove that Melchert-Dinkel’s advice led directly to their deaths.